Seminar in National Security Policy

This course presents an overview of security policy issues as a fundamental component of both foreign policy and domestic budgetary politics. The course will take a broad view of security policy and examine the topic from a number of directions. The historical development of defense and security concerns will be examined with emphasis on the role that security has played in international relations. The course will combine historical description of security policy development, comparative analysis, and theoretical examination. In particular, arms races, arms transfers, spending tradeoffs, the logic of deterrence, game theoretic models of decision making, intelligence and analysis, and terrorism will be critically examined. While designed for the international track in the graduate program, the emphasis on security in the broad sense will make this a useful elective for those interested in domestic policy as well.

Course Requirements

The course requirements are relatively modest:

1. a take home final, (40%)
2. a topical annotated bibliography, (10%)
3. a strategic or security analysis, (40%) (due the last class meeting), and
4. class discussion (10%)

The final exam will be the sort of global (read obtuse) questions that you might expect on a comprehensive examination. (It's good training!) The bibliography requirement is to simply assemble as complete a bibliography (with some annotation) of a specific topic as possible. Length is arbitrary, and it may be used as the foundation for the analysis paper. We will discuss this in detail in the class. The research or strategic/intelligence analysis must be an in-depth treatment of a specific question or problem and must have my explicit approval, with a preliminary outline due by April 3rd. I also expect the course to be conducted as a seminar. That means that you need to talk as much as I do.
 

Some of the books and articles on the reading list below will be provided as .pdf documensts in the class e-Library or else in 316 WDB. Please see Rebecca to sign out the materials. If any reading is not available (except when checked out!), please take the responsibility of letting me know.

Course Outline - Tentative

•  Required Reading
• * Recommended Reading

   

Week 1: Jan 15	Introduction:
Week 2: Jan 22	The Course Perspective
	Strategies of Containment.  Ch. 1-3. American National Security Policy (eL). pp. 3-25   * Kaufman, Daniel J., Jeffrey S. McKitrick and Thomas J. Leney, (1985) US National Security: A Framework for Analysis. pp 1-37.
Week 3: Jan 29	Security Policy: Definitions and Scope: Institutions
	** Strategies of Containment.  Ch. 4-6. ** American Defense Policy. Ch. 5. (eL) ** "Competing Visions for U.S. Grand Strategy" by Barry Posen and Andrew L. Ross in America's Strategic Choices (Revised Edition, 2000). (Michael Brown, Owen R. Cote, Jr, Sean M. Lynn-Jones and Steven Miller, Eds) (eL)
Week 4: Feb 5	Security Policy: A Long-Term Historical Perspective
	**  Strategies of Containment.  Ch. 7-10. ** American Defense Policy. Ch. 1. ** Rasler, A. Karen, and William R. Thompson. ( 1983) "Global Wars, Public Debts, and The Long Cycle" World Politics.  ** Goldstein, Joshua. (1988). Long Cycles: Prosperity and War in the Modern Age. Yale University Press. pp. 1-63.  ** Pollins, Brian A. and Randall L. Schweller. (1999) "Linking the Levels: The Long Wave and Shifts in US Foreign Policy, 1790-1993. American Journal of Political Science. (April) pp. 431-464. * Modelski, George and William R. Thompson. (1988) Seapower in Global Politics, 1494-1993. pp 1-132.
Week 5: Feb 12	Security Policy: Its Recent History and Current Concerns
	**  Strategies of Containment.  Ch. 7-10.
Week 6: Feb 19	Game Theory and Decision Making
	** Thinking Strategically. Avinash K Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff pp. 1-201 ** Brams, Stephen. ( 1975) Game Theory and Politics: 1-50.  (eL) ** Bennett, Peter G. (1995) "Modelling Decisions in International Relations: Game Theory and Beyond" Mershon International Studies Review. pp 19-52.  ** Joshua Goldstein and John Freeman. (1990) Three Way Street.. pp 1-35. Class Powerpoint Slides
Week 7: Feb 26	Utility Maximization and Game-Theoretic Views I.
	** Thinking Strategically. Avinash K Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff pp. 205-376. ** Stephen Walt. (1999) "Rigor or Rigor Mortis? Rational Choice and Security Studies" International Security 23:4 (Spring). ** Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, James D. Morrow. (1999) "Sorting Through the Wealth of Notions". International Security 24:2 (Autumn). ** Frank C. Zagare (1999) "All Mortis, No Rigor" International Security 24:2 (Autumn). ** Stephen M. Walt. (1999) "A Model Disagreement" International Security 24:2 (Autumn).
Week 8: Mar 4	Military Strategy & Logistics: The Logic of Deterrence and Military Assistance
	** Craig, Gordon A. and Alexander L. George. (1995) Force and Statecraft. pp. 180-213.  ** Paul Huth. ( ) Extended Deterrence. pp. 1-85. ** Powell, Robert. Nuclear Deterrence Theory, Nuclear Proliferation, and National Missile Defense. International Security. Volume 27, Number 4 (March 01, 2003) ** Stein, Ishimatsu and Richard Stoll.(1985) "The Fiscal Impact of the U.S. Military Assistance Program, 1967-1976." Western Political Quarterly.  **Blanton, Shannon. (2000) "Promoting Human Rights and Democracy in the Developing World: U.S. Rhetoruic versus U.S. Arms Exports." American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 123-131
Week 9:  Mar 11	Arms Races and Military Spending
	** Cusack, Thomas and Michael Don Ward. (1981) "Military Spending in the United States, Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China" Journal of Conflict Resolution. 25: 429-469.  ** Russett, Bruce. (1970) What Price Vigilance? The Burdens of National Defense. Yale University Press. (the Appendix on Arms Race Models) ** Friedman, George and Meredith. (1996) The Future of War. pp.118-159.   (eL)
Week 10: Mar 18	Guns vs. Butter
	** Domke, William K., Richard C. Eichenberg and Catherine M. Kelleher.(1983) "The Illusion of Choice: Defense and Welfare in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 1948-1978" American Political Science Review. 77: 19-35.  ** Mintz, Alex., and Chi Huang. (1991) "Guns vs. Butter: The Indirect Link" American Journal of Political Science. 356: 738-757.  ** Robert D. Duval. (2001) "Trading Bases: Resolving the Guns vs Butter Tradeoff Puzzle via Full Specification" draft paper ** Chan, Steve. (1995) "Grasping the Peace Dividend: Some Propositions on the Conversion of Swords into Plowshares" Mershon International Studies Review 39: (April) pp 53-95.  ** Zuk, Gary and Nancy Woodbury. (1986)"US Defense Spending, Electoral Cycles and Soviet-American Relations" Journal of Conflict Resolution. 30: 445-468.  ** Mayer, Kenneth R. (1992) "Elections, Business Cycles, and the Timing of Defense Contract Awards in the United States" In The Political Economy of Defense Spending in the United States. Edited by Alex Mintz, pp. 196-216. London: Routledge.
Week 11: Mar 25	Spring Break
Week 12: Apr 1	Strategic Intelligence I: Its Role in Security Policy
	** Richelson, Jeffery. (2007) The U.S. Intelligence Community. pp. ?? Intelligence Analysis Examples CIA Examples: Global Humanitarian Emergencies Trends and Projections, 2001-2002 Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic Missile Threat Through 2015 Strategic Studies Institute of the US Army War College A Hundred Osamas: Islamists Threats and the Future of Counterinsurgency (Sherifa D. Zuhur) Getting Ready for a Nuclear Iran
Week 11: Apr 8	Strategic Intelligence II: The Means and the Process
	Annotated Bibliography Due  ** Richelson, Jeffery. (2007) The U.S. Intelligence Community. pp. ?? ** Clark, Robert. (2004) Intelligence Analysis. pp. 1-100 ** Miller, George A. (1956) "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information" * Heuer, Richards J, Jr., (1999) Psychology of Intelligence Analysis
Week 13: Apr 15	Methods of Intelligence Analysis
	** Richelson, Jeffery. (2007) The U.S. Intelligence Community. pp. ?? ** Clark, Robert. (2004) Intelligence Analysis. pp. 101-269.
Week 14: Apr 22	Terrorism, Cyber Terrorism, and Cybernetic War
	*US State Dept. Patterns of Global Terrorism 2002. ** Cronin, Audrey Kurth. "Behind the Curve: Globalization and International Terrorism." International Security 27:3 (Winter). ** Philpott, Daniel. "The Challenge Of September 11 To Secularism In International Relations" World Politics 55.1 (2002) 66-95. ** Denning, Dorothy. "Activism, Hacktivism, and Cyberterrorism: The Internet as a Tool for Influencing Foreign Policy"
Week 15: Apr 29	Global Issues and Future Security Issues
	** International Relations and Global Climate Change - by Detlef Sprinz and Urs Luterbacher  *  An Introduction to Climate Change (About.com Guide - Please browse site)  Class Notes on Climate Change Last Day of Class - Papers Due Receive Take-home final
Final Exam	Take Home Final: Due Tuesday, May 6th at 4:30pm.